A unique donation: paper cut-out elements not used by Henri Matisse in his works

To make these compositions, Matisse cutout many shapes, covering the floor of hisapartment-studio with them and giving him-self the widest possible choice. In that way,these elements became a sort of palettecomposed of many coloured shapes, someof which were never used. Those that werenot used in the compositions were, howe-ver, kept in case they might prove useful inanother work.

In 2012, several members of the painter’sfamily gave more than 400 cut-out shapesto the Musée Matisse, described in theterms of the Deed of Gift as ‘elements ofgouache on cut and pasted paper not usedby Henri Matisse in his works’ 2.

These cut-out shapes might have been partof paper cut-out compositions. They are

exhibited in a graphic art display cabinetdesigned by Jean Matisse, the painter’s son,for the museum’s opening in 1963. It has re-cently been restored in order to be usedagain 2.

There is a great variety to these unused ele-ments – palm leaves, seaweed, motifs for afrieze, dancers and acrobats, swallows, andvarious other shapes in their positive andnegative outlines – that can be related to theworks kept in the museum’s collection, suchas Oceania, the Sky; Oceania, the Sea; andPolynesia, the Sea.

The presentation of this genesis of the papercut-outs is in accordance with the mu-seum’s vocation to contribute to a greaterunderstanding of how Matisse’s work wascreated.

Henri MatisseElement of gouache on cut and pasted paper notused by the artist, n° 711, coll. Musée Matisse, Nice.© Succession H. Matisse. Photo : Henri Matisse Archives.

Exceptional temporary loans

- Still Life with Fruit (Nature morte aux fruits), 1915,oil on canvas, Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe, Germany

- Still Life with Shells (Nature morte au coquillage), 1940,mixed techniques on canvas, private collection

- Still Life with Green Marble Table(Nature morte à la table de marbre vert), 1941,oil on canvas,Centre Pompidou, Musée national d’art moderne / Centre decréation industrielle, Paris, France

- Woman with Pearls (Femme aux perles), 1942, oil on canvas,private collection

- Black Philodendron and Lemons (Philodendron noir et citrons),1943, oil on canvas,Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, Høvikodden, Norway

- Sketch for stained glass The Fish (Le Poisson)in the chapel in Vence, circa 1950, private collection

- The Vine (La Vigne), 1953, paper cut-outs, Musée départementalMatisse, Le Cateau-Cambrésis, France

2 The new association of Friends of the Musée Matissecontributed to the financing of this cabinet’s restoration.

Around the exhibition

Events

- Saturday 23rd June - 7.30 pm: Jazz concert

Creation by the So What Company of jazz music in relation with thetheme of the exhibition Matisse, The Cut-out Sky.Alex Benvenuto (bass clarinet); Laurent Lapchin (trumpet) ;Jean-Marc Laugier (bass); Cédric Fioretti (drums);Thomas Guillemaud (soprano sax); Henri Roger (piano, guitar),José Serafino (guitar)Duration: 1 hour. On the exterior patio, level -2 (group entrance).

- Friday 29th June - 7.00 pm: Musical reading and pictures

«.. Trouble en tumulte la douceur du silence .. » Matisse, Genèse;la modification «.. car bientôt se lève le jour. »Producer: Michel Herrmann. Interpreter: Ariane Alban, actress. Duration: 1 hour. Auditorium (level -2).

Art book Matisse: The cut-out sky

Sylvie Forestier Marie-Thérèse Pulvenis de Sel igny

Le ciel découpé

Les papiers gouachés découpés

matisseThe Musée Matisse: a knowledge within the reach of each, the department of the public

Space of temporary exhibition, level -1

This presentation brings to light the various activities of mediation proposed by the department of the publicof the Musée Matisse. These are conceived in connection with Matisse’s experience: the observation, theknowledge of the art history, the learning of a technique and the research for a personal expression.

Free access, subject to available places

Published by Jacabook (Milan) and Citadelles et Mazenod (Paris).

23•06 > 23•09 2012

MUS

ÉE M

ATIS

SE

The cut-out sky

Maq

uette

pou

r la

bour

se b

lanc

he(C

hape

lle d

e Ve

nce)

, 195

0-19

52, p

apie

rs g

ouac

hés

déco

upés

, Mus

ée M

atis

se, N

ice.

© S

ucce

ssio

n H.

Mat

isse

. Pho

to F

ranç

ois

Fern

ande

z.

ciel decoupe anglais 05/06/12 07:26 Page1

The Musée Matisse collection of papercut-outs

More than 10 masterpieces in paper cut-outs belong to the collections of the MuséeMatisse in Nice.

These masterly compositions allow us toobserve the way Matisse adopted this tech-nique to express, by cutting up colouredshapes, the vivacity of the Creole Dancer(Danseuse Créole), the structure of BlueNude IV (Nu bleu IV), the movement of TheWave (La Vague) and the rich colours ofFlowers and Fruit.

For Matisse, the use of paper cut-outs re-presented the apotheosis of his work, brin-ging together drawing, colour and sculpture.

« Drawing with scissors. To cut to the quickin colour reminds me of the direct cutting ofsculptors 1 ».

1 Henri Matisse, Jazz, Paris, published by Tériade, 1947.

The exhibition Matisse, The Cut-out Sky

The Musée Matisse dedicates the exhibition Matisse, The Cut-out Sky to Mr Claude Duthuit, a grandson of the painter.

Henri Matisse’s paper cut-outs

These works catch the eye with their powerful colours and simple compositions, and are famous all over the world. This new exhibition,based on the collection of the Musée Matisse in Nice, reveals the genesis, the diversity of expression and the modernity represented by thistechnique in conjunction with drawing, sculpture and painting.

Because of the freedom and flexibility it offers, gouache on cut and pasted paper artworks, generally known as the paper cut-outs (papiersgouachés découpés), are at the origin of many compositions which shine a light on Matisse’s creative process.

Nice and its surrounding area were the birthplace of the painter’s preoccupations and research. From his arrival at the end of 1917 in theBaie des Anges, the surrounding hills that stand out against the intense blue of the sky and the Mediterranean Sea became his main sourcesof inspiration.

Today, the Musée Matisse in Nice, which aim is to become a point of reference for knowledge of the painter’s work, is very gratefull for thenew donation of 400 paper cut-out elements not used by Henri Matisse in his works, by the painter’s family.

Christian EstrosiMayor of NicePrésident of the Nice Côte d’AzurMetropole

Musée Matisse, Nice.Photo : City of Nice - Musée Matisse.

The modern part of the Musée Matisse,with the monumental paper cut-outsFlowers and Fruit (Fleurs et fruits).© Succession H. Matisse for the artworks of the artist.Photo : City of Nice - Photographic service.

Henri MatisseCreole Dancer (Danseuse créole), 1950, and Blue Nude IV(Nu bleu IV), 1952,Paper cut-outs, Musée Matisse, Nice.© Succession H. Matisse. Photo : François Fernandez.

Hélène AdantThe Negress (La Négresse) on the wall andBlue Nude IV (state) in the miror,Le Régina, Nice, circa 1952, Photograph,Musée Matisse, Nice.© Hélène Adant Fund, Bibliothèque Kandinsky,Centre Pompidou, Paris.

In his book Henri Matisse: A Novel, volumeII, published in 1971, Louis Aragon titlesone of his final chapters ‘Le ciel découpé’(The Cut-out Sky). This poetic vision refersto Matisse’s attachment to the Mediterra-nean sky, the luminosity of which inspiredhim and seemed to reappear in his uniquepaper cut-outs.

Based around prestigious loans from privatecollections, national and international mu-seums, and works from the museum’s owncollection, the exhibition shows the rela-tionship that Matisse established betweendrawing, painting and sculpture to end upwith coloured paper cut-outs.

In this way, works from different periodsand in different techniques constitute a pro-gression that is enlightening in terms of theartist’s creative processes, from his firstpaintings, such as Still Life with Books (Na-ture morte aux livres), in 1890, up to thelarge compositions in paper cut-outs, likeFlowers and Fruit, 1952-1953.

This exhibition is dedicated to the donationmade by Matisse’s family in 2012 of a col-lection of paper cut-out elements not usedby Henri Matisse in his works, and the do-nation of the ceramic The Swimming Pool(La Piscine) by Mr and Mrs Claude Duthuitin 2011.

The publication of the art book Matisse: TheCut-out Sky, published by Jacabook (Milan)and Citadelles et Mazenod (Paris), accom-panies these important events in the historyof the museum’s collections.

To cut in colour

Historically, Matisse’s use of coloured paperwas first of all a working technique that al-lowed him to more easily modify the ele-ments of the monumental composition TheDance (La Danse), made in 1931 (3.5 m x13.5 m) for the Barnes Foundation inMerion, Pennsylvania.

Afterwards, by using paper cut-outs as ameans of expression, Matisse resolved oneof the main problems of modern painting:the conflict between drawing and colour.Prior to the drawing of any figures, the co-lour was laid down on the sheet of paper.Then Matisse cut this coloured area withscissors. In doing so, he combined in a sin-gle gesture the energy of line and the ra-diance of colour.

These gouache paper motifs were movedaround as the artist wished, and pinned di-rectly to the walls of his apartment-studio atthe Régina (Nice, Cimiez). In this way, hewas able to organise different compositionsby associations of shapes, until he made adefinitive decision about their place.

This technique lent itself especially to thecreation of very large decorative works,many of which were intended to be madeusing other techniques: ceramics, stainedglass, tapestry, silkscreen printing, andstencilling.

The Matisse museum’s paper cut-outsand their applications in othertechniques

Creole Dancer, 1950; designs of clericalrobes for the chapel in Vence, 1950; TheBees (Les Abeilles), 1948; Blue Nude IV,1952; Bather in the Reeds (Baigneusedans les roseaux), 1952; The Wawe (LaVague), 1952; Woman with Amphora(Femme à l’amphore), 1953; Flowers andFruit, 1952-1953; Polynesia, the Sea(Polynésie, la mer), 1946, tapestry;Oceania, the Sea (Océanie, la mer), 1946,silkscreen; Oceania, the Sky (Océanie, leciel), 1946-1947, silkscreen; plates for thebook Jazz, 1947; two studies for thestained-glass window The Tree of Life(L’Arbre de Vie) from the chapelle duRosaire in Vence, 1950; The SwimmingPool in ceramic.

Cameraphoto VeniseMatisse cutting out gouache papers,Villa ‘‘Le Rêve’’, Vence, 1947.© Archives Photo / Getty Images.

Ground floor of the villa :

- Matisse’s look: from painting to the paper cut-outs

- Volume and line, arabesque and sketchSculpture and drawing: genesis of the paper cut-outs

- The paper cut-outs: from the portrait to the mask

- The paper cut-outs: a new creation form

- Selective timeline of the paper cut-out years

First floor of the villa :

- A cascade of colour: the palette of the paper cut-outs

- A unique donation: paper cut-out elements not usedby Henri Matisse in his works

- Tahiti, source of inspiration for the large compositions

- The model for the ceramic of The Swimming Pool

- Applications for the paper cut-out technique

- The chapelle du Rosaire in Vence: a unique work

The exhibition tour

ciel decoupe anglais 05/06/12 07:26 Page3